Snarcoleptic_Hoosier:Article says Asian market dominated the profit. Almost like most of the major Asian cities are in a tighter geographic area and population is clustered in those same areas.

/Let a company that does Tokyo to Beijing flights try to turn the same profits on a New York to Kansas City flight

I fly domestically in China pretty frequently, and I'm not sure that the distances are all that different. I couldn't tell you what's different, exactly, but I don't know that Asian airlines have to fly much shorter distances than North American airlines.

ib_thinkin:Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: Article says Asian market dominated the profit. Almost like most of the major Asian cities are in a tighter geographic area and population is clustered in those same areas.

/Let a company that does Tokyo to Beijing flights try to turn the same profits on a New York to Kansas City flight

I fly domestically in China pretty frequently, and I'm not sure that the distances are all that different. I couldn't tell you what's different, exactly, but I don't know that Asian airlines have to fly much shorter distances than North American airlines.

I'd guess it would be more volume.

Beijing has 20 some million people, Tokyo 13ish million. NY 8 million, KC less than a million.

Hell, Beijing alone should have more people than our top three cities combined.

MugzyBrown:Damn you for transporting me to places in the world that are impossible, difficult, expensive, or inconvenient to drive to!

It's almost like simply providing a service doesn't necessarily make the customer happy... as if you also have to do it in a manner that seems fair and convenient to the buyer, two things that largely don't apply to the airline industry.

Although I don't really get the headline. They made a profit.... so they shouldn't charge you for things?

I wonder if they will biatch about having to pay people living wages and benefits the next time they have union negotiations? (They will, of course). Starting to wonder if maybe paying a living wage for a vast majority of your employees, say 90% should be a requirement before being allowed to go public; subcontractors to the company would have to be included in this to avoid THAT loop hole.

Beijing has 20 some million people, Tokyo 13ish million. NY 8 million, KC less than a million.

Hell, Beijing alone should have more people than our top three cities combined.

That might be it, but I don't know that there's that much traveling for most of those 20 million people. The more I think about it, the more puzzled I am.

...and the more nervous I am to fly.

Instant turn around on the planes. The plane doing say the Shanghai to Guangzhou route does that route until such a time as it has to be taken off line for maintenance. The crew hit their limit for flight time? New crew boards, gas that sucker up, and punch the gas to haul ass out of Shanghai Pudong. Every flight is full and the plane pays for itself a lot quicker. I sat next to a Juneyao executive once who claimed they paid off their planes 5 years before American airlines did because they did so many more flights per day with the plane. He bragged they'd have the plane loaded and back in the air before I even left the Changsha Airport.

Whereas in America often when the flight crew hits their FAA limit, the plane is also done for the day and parked until the crew comes back the next day. So it stops making money and starts costing money since it is just sitting around making you rent tarmac or a hangar.

/I'm also betting Chinese planes can go longer between inspections//it's also why if you look out your window upon landing a human wave of baggage handlers descends upon your plane, the airline is just paying migrant works pennies to empty out their big expensive jet and get that sucker back in the air

dababler:I wonder if they will biatch about having to pay people living wages and benefits the next time they have union negotiations? (They will, of course). Starting to wonder if maybe paying a living wage for a vast majority of your employees, say 90% should be a requirement before being allowed to go public; subcontractors to the company would have to be included in this to avoid THAT loop hole.

You'll need to provide a realistic idea of a living wage that isn't just going to create a boom that makes everything cost more and end up as a poor wage again..

ha-ha-guy://it's also why if you look out your window upon landing a human wave of baggage handlers descends upon your plane, the airline is just paying migrant works pennies to empty out their big expensive jet and get that sucker back in the air

I'm usually flying in and out of Shenzhen; I don't see that. I'm guessing that its more a matter of the money made off the turnaround, versus the money saved on an American wage.